1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to wire-reinforced flexible hose made primarily of polymeric material and a method of making such hose.
2. Prior Art Statement
It is known in the art to provide a wire reinforced hose defined by a helically wound strip of pliable material which has adjoining turns thereof with portions in overlapping relation and a reinforcing wire sandwiched between such portions, and examples of such a hose are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,539,853; 3,219,738; 3,336,172; and 3,739,815. However, with the hose disclosed in each of these patents it appears that a flat strip or tape of pliable material is wound against a reinforcing wire while supporting such wire on a support. With such a flat strip there is generally some relative movement between the strip and wire during manufacture whereby the wire is not usually wound with optimum precision whereby the overall quality of the resulting hose is impaired. In addition, with the hose disclosed in each of these patents there is a tendancy in the completed hose for separation and relative movement between the strip and wire often resulting in premature weakening and failure of the hose.
It is also known to provide wire-reinforced hose comprised of a helically wound wire and so-called preformed profiled tape, such as tape of roughly M-shaped cross-sectional configuration, for example, which is helically wrapped around the wire; and, an example of such a hose is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,089,535. However, with this hose the helical convolutions defined in the hose are inherently double thickness convolutions which result in excessive use of material and the inside surface of the resulting hose has a comparatively rough corrugated shape with the helically coiled wire exposed.